INSTRUCTOR:
Dr.
Peter Wronski
INSTRUCTOR OFFICE:
JOR 528 (Tues 10:15-11:00 am & 5:15 -
6:15 pm /Thurs 10:30 - 11:30 am or by appointment)
INSTRUCTOR PHONE:
(416) 979-5000 x.6058
INSTRUCTOR E-MAIL:
pwronsky@ryerson.ca [
best way to contact ]
COURSE WEBSITE: http://www.petervronsky.org/hst501
LECTURES:
Mon:
11:00 - 1 :00 pm SHC 560
Tues: 9:00 - 10:00 am
RCC 203
COURSE
DESCRIPTION / OBJECTIVE:
This course examines the origins, impact and course of the Civil War, the most
traumatic event in American history.
The first part of the course deals with the events and causes leading to the
Civil War, including the tensions between North and South.
The second part covers the military campaigns and the domestic problems
of both sides and the effects on the United States.
The objectives of this course are:
1. To examine the period and the country in its contemporary setting and
to establish a factual framework; 2. To suggest connections between the war and
later U.S. civilization; 3. To improve
your ability to think critically and to analyze data by undertaking the kind of
research required for upper level university essays and to write clearly and
effectively.
(Upper-level liberal studies elective)
TEXT:
Battle Cry of Freedom
James M. McPherson
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019516895X (available
free
here online on the Ryerson Library website
METHOD OF STUDENT EVALUATION
Mid-Term Test: 15% October 16 (Chapter 1 - 10; to Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) )
Essay Proposal (250 words):
10% October
16
Essay (2500 words): 30%
December 4
Final Exam:
30%
TBA
Seminars:
15%
TBA; TBA; TBA
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION:
Lecture &
Seminar
COURSE READINGS (Recommended Schedule) James
M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom
1.
Introduction – Course Requirements – History of Slavery
2.
Sectional Tensions to 1840;Ideological Conflicts Over Slavery;
Chapters 1, 2, 3
3.
Texas and Mexican War; California, Kansas Nebraska Tensions Chapters 4, 5, 6
4.
Lincoln, Republican Party; Dred Scott; Caning of Senator Sumner;
Election of 1860; Lower South Leaves Union; War begins
Chapters 7,8, 9, 10
5.
Opposing Forces; Armies and Navies; Military Strategies Chapters 11, 12
6.
The Campaigns of 1861 –– 1862
Chapters 13, 14,15
7.
Emancipation – Foreign Relations
Chapters 16, 17,18
8.
Winter 1862-1863; Summer 1863; Home Fronts
Chapters 19, 20
9.
Winter 1863-1864; Summer 1864
Chapters
21, 22, 23, 24
10.
The Final Year 1864-1865
Chapters 25, 26, 27, 28
11.
Reconstruction - Conclusions
Epilogue
SEMINARS:
Three one-hour seminars will be held focused on assigned readings.
When scheduled, they will take place in the final hour of regularly
scheduled lectures. Attendance is
mandatory. Seminar mark is 15% of
the final grade and based on attendance and quality of participation.
ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS
There are two parts to the essay assignment: the outline and the
essay.
Part 1:
The
Essay Proposal
(10%)
The outline should consist of one double-spaced page with a description of your
proposed essay, an argument if you have one and/or your approach to the subject
and its significance to the course if not immediately evident.
(Approximately 250 words.)
A one or two page annotated
bibliography of six sources
at least should accompany the essay description.
This should consist of the author, title, publisher, city, and year of
publication of the book, journal article, or other source and
a short commentary on what the source
offers to your essay.
Outlines submitted with no annotations to the bibliography will be heavily
penalized. Sources should be current
academic monographs or academic journal articles -- not popular works like
Time-Life Books, Complete Idiot’s or Dummies Guides, Colliers Children’s
Encyclopedia, Encarta, Wikipedia, Historyplace.com, etc. Journalistic works with
citations are acceptable. In general, if your source does not provide
detailed references in the form of
footnotes, endnotes or specific page references, which you can verify, it is
unsuitable as a source. This
especially applies to websites.
If you intend to include websites, provide their URLs in the proposal for
approval. No essay can be entirely
based on websites without permission from the instructor.
(“Websites” does not mean internet databases of journal articles like
MUSE or JSTOR, for example.)
You will be assessed on the uniqueness of your topic and on the depth,
currency and academic quality of your sources. The use of academic journal
articles, many of which are available online through the Ryerson Library is
highly encouraged. If you are not familiar with academic article databases
like JSTOR and Project Muse, go (run!) immediately to a librarian at the Ryerson
Library and ask them to show you how to use these databases. You can
access them from home and many (but not all) articles are available for
downloading in full text. A link on the course website also provides you an
introduction as to how to enter the online journal interface.
You may at any time after submitting a
proposal, change your approach, your sources, and even completely change your
essay topic without submitting a new proposal, but I strongly suggest to check with me first on
such topic changes.
Part 2: The Essay (30%)
Essays should be 2,500 words in length (approximately 10-12 pages not including
your title page and bibliography and appendix if any.)
Standard 12 pt font, cursive or non-cursive, double spaced text, standard
2.5 cm margins, 11” X 8 ½” paper.
Pages must be stapled (no binders or
paperclips), paginated, and submitted with a cover page containing no art
or decorative elements. The cover
page must have: your name, student
number, course number, and essay title.
Essays not conforming to these standards will not be accepted and late
penalties will be imposed until the essay is resubmitted in the required format.
Essays must be based on a minimum of six sources (not including course
texts but seminar readings are acceptable), and
should not include, encyclopedias, textbooks, or general or
popular histories, or unapproved
websites, (2 marks deducted for every Wikipedia or like citation) etc.,
as described above in Part 1.
Paragraphs are to be indented without any additional spaces between paragraphs,
unlike in this course outline, for example.
Any relevant images, maps, graphs included in the essay are to be placed
into an Appendix at the back.
The essay should have a single descriptive title or a creative title with a
descriptive subtitle. For example:
Generals in Blue:
Lives of the Union Commanders or
The Architect of Genocide:
Himmler and the Final Solution, etc.
“History Essay” is not a title.
Marks will be deducted for essays submitted without a title and/or title
page.
Any paper not conforming to the above standards will be penalized.
Essay Progressive Creation History File Requirements
As I do not use Turnitin, students must "save as" a minimum of ten different progressive versions of their essay as they research, write, and edit their work and save all their research notes as well. I recommend that you use the "save as" command every time you finish a new page and for every subsequent edit of your finished essay. If there is any doubt to the authorship of any submitted essay, you will be asked to submit all the copies of your essay files as you saved them through the research, writing, and editing phases. Failure to submit upon request the minimum number of progressive files will constitute evidence of plagiarism with all its consequences. DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR PROGRESSIVE CREATION FILE HISTORY UNLESS REQUESTED.
Citations
A history essay is like a courtroom argument—it is based on the presentation of
evidence conforming with the rules of evidence in an expositive argument.
The way hearsay is not admissible in court, Wikipedia for example, is
likewise not admissible as evidence in historical discourse.
Just as court evidence is presented in a disciplined system:
Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, etc,
in the historical argument, the Chicago
Style footnoted citation is used to lead and guide the reader through the
evidence behind the persuasive discourse of the text above.
Some of the journal readings for seminars will have been pointed out to
you as appropriate models for the citation style required for your essay.
Essays must have a bibliography and have
footnoted citations in the
Chicago style (at the bottom of the page).
Parenthetic in-text or inline style citations are unacceptable for a
history essay.
A well
researched essay integrating multiple sources into its argument contains on
average five to six citations per page -- approximately 50 to 70 citations per
essay.
As a general rule, references should be given for direct quotations, summaries
or your own paraphrases of other people's work or points of view, and for
material that is factual, statistical, controversial, assertive or obscure.
You must cite more than just direct quotes. WHEN IN DOUBT, IT IS
BETTER TO PROVIDE A REFERENCE. You
do not need to cite items of general knowledge like, for example:
the sun rises in the east or Elizabeth II is the Queen of England.
Essays that do not provide specific page references in each and every citation will be
automatically failed without an opportunity to resubmit.
Go to these links for a guide to the required citation format:
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c10_s1.html
Why Chicago Style Footnotes?
http://www.yale.edu/bass/writing/sources/kinds/principles/why.html
This is an example of the basic required style for citations which are to
inserted at the bottom of each page:
1 Jane Doe,
The ABC's of History (Toronto: Ontario Publishers, 1997), pp. 20-21
2 Jane Doe, p. 23
It is not necessary to use archaic terms like
ibid or
op cit. and even discouraged as
word processing drag or cut-and-paste editing can easily displace the
logic of these citation terms.
An author’s surname and page number
is acceptable for subsequent citations once you have introduced all the relevant
reference information in the first citation to that particular source. If you
are citing more than one work by the same author, then include the title as
well. Titles are to be put into
italics or underlined.
See the above webpages for further details and formats as to how to cite
journals, multiple authors, collections, etc. or search “Chicago style
footnotes” on Google.
To create numerically sequential footnotes in MS WORD 2007 go to the
"References" ribbon and select [Insert Footnote]; in earlier version of MS
WORD, go to the "Insert" menu and then select [Footnote] item.
Footnotes may optionally on occasion contain additional relevant
short comments on the cited source but
in general, this practice is discouraged.
Bibliographies
Essays MUST provide alphabetically
ordered by author’s surname, bibliographies of all works consulted, whether or
not they have been quoted directly. An adequate bibliography for this assignment
will contain no less than six books or
journal articles related to the topic. General books, dictionaries,
atlases, textbooks and/or encyclopedias DO NOT count towards this minimum number
of sources, and their inclusion in citations will NOT be considered as
constituting research. Seminar
readings are acceptable as citable sources.
An example of a bibliographic entry is as follows:
Smith, John. History of Canada
(Toronto: Ontario Publishers, 1997).
Submission of Essays
Essays are to be submitted to the instructor on
the due date in lecture in hardcopy with pages stapled together.
Electronic Submission of Essays
If you find it necessary to submit an essay by e-mail, the following file naming
protocol is to be used:
"Last Name_First Name_CourseNumber _Title"
Any attached file not using this exact naming protocol will not be accepted.
Only MS Word files (preferred) in .doc or .docx format or PDF files will be
accepted.
The submission of files by e-mail will be usually acknowledged within two days.
A hard copy of the essay is to be submitted at the next opportunity.
Indicate on the front of the hardcopy the date you had e-mailed the essay
to me previously. The e-mailed essay
will secure your submission date.
Obviously the hard copy is to be exactly identical with the e-mailed copy.
Hard copies of previously e-mailed essays not indicating the e-mail date
on the cover will be assigned the date of the submission of the hard copy with
no appeal.
Hardcopy Submission of Essays
Do not slip essays under my door or into my mail-box.
Hard copies may be submitted to the Essay Drop-Off Box in the History
Department (JOR500). Do not leave essays
at the Chang School.
I will guarantee essay returns with comments by the
day of the exam only to those essays submitted to me on the due date, in
hard copy, in required format, in lecture.
All other essays will be marked
after the exam and arrangements may be made to get your essay mark after the
final marks have been submitted.
Late Penalties and Extensions
Extensions may be granted on medical or compassionate grounds but will be
automatically penalized three (3) marks regardless. Students requesting an
extension should submit an e-mailed request to me before the deadline
specifying precisely the date to which they are requesting the extension.
After the due date, students need to provide appropriate documentation
relating to the extension request (i.e. doctor’s note, death certificate of
relative, police report on their stolen laptop, repair bills for their crashed
hard disc, veterinary reports on the contents of Fluffy ’s stomach, etc).
Essays submitted under an extension must have my written response to the
extension request attached to the
front of the essay. E-mailed
submissions are to be attached as a ‘reply’ to my earlier response to the
extension request. Submissions
without my extension approval attached to their front will be penalized as late
with no opportunity of appeal afterward.
No late work will be accepted after the last day of lecture or extensions
granted beyond the last lecture day.
Two (2) marks per/day are deducted from your essay mark for late submissions,
weekends included, until the day the essay is submitted to me.
If I do not acknowledge the receipt of your e-mailed essay within a few
days, it is your responsibility to ensure I have received it.
Keep copies of all work, including marked assignments returned to you and
e-mails of your submissions until your final course mark is released.
Re-submissions of earlier e-mailed essays "lost" in transmission, should
such an unlikely scenario occur, will only be accepted in the form of a forwarded
copy of the original e-mail.
There are no exceptions to this.
Outstanding assignments will not be accepted after the last day of lecture.
Earning Marks
The evaluation of your research, content, evidence, originality and
argumentation is of primary concern in marking as is the quality of your sources
as described above. Equally important is the syntax, style and structure of your
work. Marks will be deducted from work containing excessive grammatical/spelling
mistakes, typographical errors, from work that is excessively long or
inadequately short, or which fails to provide properly formatted
footnoting/bibliography. Essays that consist of a frequently quoted passages or
sentences, even if footnoted, will be severely penalized.
Be selective in direct quotations.
Ask yourself, “can this be said in my own words and then cited?” Is there
a stylistic or argumentative reason for quoting the source directly? Be sure to
edit and check your work carefully. Do not simply rely on your computer’s
spelling or grammar checker.
Grounds for Assignment Failure
Essays which do not supply proper and adequate references and bibliographies as
described above or submitted after the final day of lecture will be failed.
Essays based entirely on websites without the instructor’s permission,
will be failed. Any written work
that quotes directly from other material without attribution, or which
paraphrases extensive tracts from the works of others,
or is written by somebody else in part or in whole without attribution,
is plagiarized and will
be failed with no opportunity to re-submit and
may
result in additional severe
academic consequences. Please consult the Ryerson academic calendar for further
information on plagiarism. If you have any questions or doubts about how to cite
material, please feel free to contact me.
Essays that do not provide specific page references in each citation will be automatically failed without an opportunity to resubmit. Go to the above links for a guide to the required citation format.
Academic Integrity
For additional help, Ryerson now offers the
Academic Integrity Website at
www.ryerson.ca/academicintegrity. This offers students a variety of
resources to assist in their research, writing, and presentation of all kinds of
assignments. It also details all dimensions of Academic Misconduct and how to
avoid it. It was put together by a team representing the Vice President
Academic, faculty, the library, Digital Media Projects, and Student Services.
NOTE: Every effort
will be made to manage the course as stated. However, adjustments may be
necessary at the discretion of the instructor. If so, students will be advised
and alterations discussed in the class prior to implementation.
MISSED TERM WORK OR EXAMINATIONS:
Exemption or deferral of a term test or final examination is not permitted
except for a medical or personal emergency. The instructor must be notified by
e-mail prior to the test and appropriate documentation submitted. For absence on
medical grounds an official student medical certificate must be provided. This
may be downloaded from the Ryerson website at
www.ryerson.ca/rr or picked up from The Chang School Office.
Absence from mid-term examination or
tests:
§
Instructor must be
notified by e-mail before the test
§
Documentation must be
presented at the next class
§
Depending on course
policy, the instructor may arrange a makeup or re-weigh the course requirements
Absence from final exam:
§
Instructor must be
notified by e-mail before the examination.
§
Documentation must be presented at The Chang School Office, within three
working days.
§
If the majority of the
course work has been completed with a passing performance, and the documentation
is acceptable, an INC grade will be entered by the instructor. An INC grade
will not be granted if term work was missed or failed.
§
The final examination must
be written within four months after the submission of the incomplete grade.
Failure to do this will result in an F grade.
§
It is the student’s
responsibility to contact The Chang School Office at least two weeks prior
to the end of the following academic term to arrange to write the final exam.
COURSE REPEATS:
Academic Council GPA policy prevents students from taking a course more than
three times. For complete GPA policy
see Policy #46 at
http://www.ryerson.ca/acadcouncil/policies.html